Entro's Work for Artscape and Enbridge Centre Win Graphis Awards

September 7, 2018

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Graphis is committed to presenting and promoting the work of exceptional talent through many initiatives, including their annual awards for Design, Advertising, Photography and Art/Illustration.

We are pleased to announce that this year Graphis has awarded us with a Platinum Award for our environmental graphic design program at the Enbridge Centre Parkade, a Gold Award for our creation of the brand for Artscape's Weston Common and an Honourable Mention for our creation of the Artscape Launchpad brand.

Parkades are perceived by many to be unsafe, unfriendly, back of house experiences. For the Enbridge Centre Parkade, the desire of the owners, Pangman Development Corporation and John Day Developments, was to counter this perception by considering the parking environment as carefully as other elements of the tower development, to make it a positive, safe and user-friendly experience. Our wayfinding positively enlivens the space and provides for better orientation, making the parkade a positive, safe and user-friendly experience. The concept is a celebration of the car itself – creating a gallery of classic and contemporary cars in a space for cars. Fifty curated photographs of automobiles and motorcycles are set against bright, multi-hued colours of the building’s core, animating the journey up and down the five levels and distinctly marking elevator vestibules.

At the heart of Weston Common is Artscape Hub, a re-imagined community gathering place featuring over 20,000 sqf of indoor and outdoor programming space dedicated for arts and cultural events. Entro was part of the visioning team and developed the name (together with Artscape and the Rockport Group) and identity for Weston Common. For the brand identity and visual brand language, the design incorporates saturated, bold colours and traditional textile weaving patterns. It was inspired by the mosaic of multicultural traditions one encounters when visiting Weston, which is home to a rich diversity of newcomers and long-term residents. The colour palette is also suggestive of the hues used by the Group of Seven painters, tying in both the local context and the theme of Canadian art. As Weston Common is close to a major transit hub, the typeface chosen is Johnson, the same one used for the London Underground, giving a subtle nod to the importance of transit to any new urban development.

Artscape Daniels Launchpad will act as a marketplace of services, resources and opportunities and will house the latest tools, equipment and technology to support creative entrepreneurship. For the identity, Entro worked with a group of 20 stakeholders to develop and narrow down concepts within a short time period. Apex New was chosen as the font; this neo-gothic constructed font has soft edges which give a humanistic feel – ideal for a community-focused brand. The graphic element in the signature is a black line at a seven-degree angle above the wordmark that adds something curious to the overall identity, drawing the eye towards it. It is inspired by the idea of the ‘launchpad’ in the name, symbolizing the lift-off point or jumping board to push artists and designers forward on their career path.